Personal papers

Scope and content:

Series 2: Personal Papers, 1859-1921, comprises the writings, diaries, ledgers, photographs, and assorted personal papers of George M. Neese. The series also includes several handwritten poems that are unattributed but may have been written by Neese.

Of note is Neese's draft manuscript of Three Years in the Confederate Horse Artillery which was published by Neale Publishing in 1911. The manuscript is largely complete and includes numbered pages 5 through 217 with some unnumbered pages and gaps. The draft covers almost the entirety of the published diary. The draft is written on poor quality scraps of paper including calendar pages and advertisements. The original diaries that served as the basis for Neese's book are held by the Library of Virginia.

Twenty-four diaries and loose diary entries document Neese's daily activities, work conducted as a painter and wallpaper hanger, weather, deaths, and other community news.

Neese kept notebooks documenting bird sightings in New Market. He included the date, species, and number of birds for each sighting.

According to notations on the front page, the address "In New Market Cemetery" was given by Charles Bemis Bliss on the occasion of Memorial Day 1911. It is dated May 28, 1911.

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